Manolo’s Bakery owner is opening a new East Charlotte cafe with gelato, pastries
A new cafe that shares its name with an award-winning documentary is opening on Charlotte’s east side. The Changebaker Place is the latest business venture from Manuel “Manolo” Betancur, owner of Manolo’s Latin Bakery.
Colombian-born, American citizen Betancur is the featured subject in the film, “The Changebaker,” which premiered at the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colorado, in May.
The 16-minute documentary short, which focuses on Betancur’s journey as an immigrant, businessman and community advocate, will make its Charlotte debut at the Carolina Theatre on Jan. 17. The cafe is also scheduled to officially open that day.
Central to the film’s narrative is an incident that took place several years ago at Manolo’s Bakery when Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed up and mistakenly arrested one of his employees.
Border patrol protests in front of Manolo’s Bakery
This past November, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents descended on Charlotte in an immigration crackdown, as previously reported by CharlotteFive. Betancur described those sweeping actions as being “a million times bigger” than what happened in the film.
Following recent events, the parking lot and streets near Manolo’s Bakery spontaneously became a gathering spot where community members expressed their solidarity with their immigrant neighbors.
Betancur said for months his team had searched for the right name for the new cafe. “But what happened (in November) and the bakery became this symbol of hope and rebellion, and the film talks about that … We asked the director if we (could) use the name of the film.”
Courtney Dixon, the film’s director, told Betancur that he is “The Changebaker,” so that decision was really up to him. Betancur also got permission from the film’s California-based logo designer to turn it into the cafe’s sign.
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What to know about The Changebaker Place
The new space, housed in a former hair salon in the same shopping center as Manolo’s, will be an extension of the bakery. Betancur’s wife, Lady, designed the cafe and will run it.
Inside, patrons will find espresso and coffee drinks made from Colombian beans, purchased directly from small-scale farms. A new line of gelato and high-end pastries will also be introduced at The Changebaker Place, Betancur told CharlotteFive.
“We just had training from a very famous pastry chef, Cesar Castro, and we are going to be making a new line of croissants and pastries of that kind,” he said.
Inside, the decor includes furnishings with significant personal meaning. In one area of the cafe is antique furniture donated by a Colombian family that recently left Charlotte, after 27 years living here. Other furniture comes from Tita’s Cake House, a business Betancur launched in Salisbury that folded in spring 2025 “due to what is happening in the country with immigration proceedings,” he said.
Nearby is a large wooden door with a slab of wood attached to it that came from the front of a former Russian ammunition box. Part of that same wood, given to Betancur by a Ukrainian friend, was used to bake bread for the people of Bucha, Ukraine.
“These bullets used to kill Ukrainians, now they’re feeding them,” said Betancur, who has made three humanitarian trips to the war-torn country since 2022.
Betancur already has experience in the coffee and gelato business. He is the founder of Higher Grounds Cafe by Manolo, a nonprofit coffee shop operated in partnership with Myer’s Park United Methodist Church on Queens Road and Artisen Gelato, an “allergy-friendly” shop in Matthews that was named best ice cream by CharlotteFive readers in 2022.
The Changebaker Place
Location: 4405 Central Ave, Suite B, Charlotte, NC 28205
Cuisine: Coffee, pastries, gelato
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 9:16 AM.
